Planning a trip to the Coorg, The Scotland of India during August 2nd or 3rd, then you have something interesting to eat over there.
According to the Hindu calendar, Kakkada is the period from mid-July to mid-August. On the 18th day of this month in Coorg, the colour purple takes on a whole different hue. Falling approximately on the 2nd or 3rd of August each year, this is the day when the locals pick the leaves of a plant called Maddh Thopp (Justicea Wynaadensis), soak them overnight and then boil the leaves and stem with water to extract the juice.
The plant is found extensively in some regions of the Western Ghats, from Wynaad, to Coorg, South Canara and the eastern Nilgiris. The leaves and stems are supposed to have eighteen different medicinal properties.
As the per the traditions, the paddy seedlings are transplanted in paddy fields on the day. Later, they prepare a sweet dish made of ‘Madhubana’ leaves or ‘maddu soppu.’
On the 18th day of Kakkada, the leaves are said to contain 18 medicinal values.
Limited scientific research on the plant shows the presence of large amounts of polyphenols and flavonoids. These are supposed to impart the plant with anti-oxidant, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic properties as well as lowering cholesterol levels.
People in Coorg use the extracted juice to make a payasam and a puttu; both rice-based preparations, cooked with a lot of grated coconut, jaggery, ghee and flavoured with cardamom. The traditional belief is that it keeps you healthy all year around, with some families eating it every day from the start of Kakkada.
For the puttu, the ingredients are first blended together to ensure a smooth paste. This is cooked on a slow fire and mixed carefully, so the mixture doesn’t stick to the pan or form lumps. It takes a good forty minutes or so for the paste to be cooked thoroughly. Then pour it into a dish and allow it to cool and set.
A mouth-watering lunch of chicken biryani, wild mango curry, crisp mutton cutlets and a fried vegetable made with green banana, is followed by the delicious payasam and puttu. The joke in Coorg is that if you are served fried green banana, you have overstayed your welcome.
So, if you ever happen to find yourself in these parts around the first week of August, be nice to a local. You might just get to sample some of this delicious stuffs.
Source: Internet
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